Integration, Synthesis and Metamorphosis

For our final project for course 3, Barb and I decided to use what we had learned about visual literacy to support our student's understanding, retention and recall of the oral discussion skills and language of an effective participant in group discussions in the high school at ISB. The HS ESL Discussion rubric is used by the HS ESL teachers in grades 9-12 to assess students' proficiency and progress in using these target skills and language in their ESL classrooms. Our rationale for choosing to present this rubric to our students in a multimedia format using VoiceThread is discussed in an earlier blog. In this week's blog, I will reflect on the final project and the course overall.

I am satisfied overall with our final project as this was the first time for Barb and I to use VoiceThread and to attempt to present and share a written rubric in a multimedia format. We were not sure going in of the possibilities, limitations, or challenges posed. Yet, we quickly saw the learning and technological possibilities and tried to utilize these to the benefit of our students, and encountered limitations and challenges which we worked together to overcome (both in ways direct and easy and indirect and difficult). We learned a lot on our own and together.

For the final product, I would still have liked to have had a thematic connection to the images outside of their connection to the rubric, perhaps a nature theme or a young adult theme with only photographs (not a mix of drawings or computer graphics and photos). After finishing the project and viewing/hearing the audio feeds and titles, I also now feel it would have been best to simply read the titles (the rubric criteria), which appear briefly across the bottom of the screen, rather than describing the picture and showing how it connects to the main idea for each criterion. I feel the audio feed is too lengthy and takes away from the salience of the pictures and titles. I would rather have this discussion in class with the students—let them discuss the connection of each picture to each rubric criterion. Having the students themselves find the connection will again reinforce their understanding, retention, and recall of the rubric criterion. I feel the VoiceThread stands alone best as a series of minimalist image/title visual reminders of each target skill and language expected of students in an oral discussion. An oral feed that analyzes the connection of the image to the rubric criterion does not do this.

Other possibilities I would like to explore are overlaying the titles on the image itself as they are not noticeable in small font, at the bottom of the screen, as they briefly appear after each image loads. Having made this visual representation of an important class rubric, I am also now interested in having the students create such a multimedia resource themselves with images they choose and with voice threads they prepare where they paraphrase each criterion in their own words.

Some limitations and challenges I still want to work on are becoming more skilled at Internet search engines, whether it's Creative Commons or Google as it takes a long time to find the images or information I am searching for. I feel that with more practice and training must be able to speed up what seems to be an overlong process. Finding images took up the majority of the time Barb and I spent on the project. Embedding video and sharing video of a high visual and auditory quality and manageable size is another area where I need to improve. If we are to create and share such multimedia files with our students they need to be of high quality yet of a size that can be easily downloaded and shared via the Web 2.0 tools used by students and teachers at ISB to communicate and learn.

As for the course overall, I feel this course has given me skill and confidence with a larger tool set of Web 2.0 tools that I can draw upon for the benefit of enhanced student learning in my classes. Since this third course began on September 9th (just seven weeks ago) I now have an account and have posted and shared multiple resources on Google Docs, VoiceThread, SlideShare, and YouTube with my students, colleagues and the larger community of Internet users. (I have also continued to use and explore new uses of our school's Moodle-based course management system, PantherNet) Finally, I leave this third course with an understanding and appreciation of the importance and value of supporting (and where it fits in with my course curricula teaching) visual literacy (along with information and technological literacy) in my ESL and science classes. Big changes in just 7 weeks!